1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an article processing apparatus having a movable member for article processing, a generation method of generating a transition order of states of the movable member, and a computer-readable storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reduction of times for measurements and treatments is an important issue for measurement apparatuses and processing apparatuses. Such measurement apparatuses may include an apparatus configured to measure a plurality of points of a work by moving its movable member (measurement head), for example. Such processing apparatuses may include an apparatus configured to perform processing on a plurality of points of a work by moving its movable member (processing head), for example. Regarding the above issue, a technology has been known which selects a movement path of a movable member to reduce a total movement time thereof for reduction of a measurement time or a processing time (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 07-210586 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-195112). Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 07-210586 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-195112 aim to solve a traveling salesman problem (TSP) where a location where measurement or processing is to be performed is a node, and a time required for movement between nodes is a cost. By solving such a TSP, reduction of a time required for measurement or processing is attempted.
However, the technologies disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 07-210586 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-195112 do not consider a degree of freedom of a state (such as a position and an attitude) of a movable member in article processing such as measurement or treating. More effective transition orders of states of a movable member may differ between a case considering such a degree of freedom and a case not considering it. For that reason, the conventional technology has been insufficient for generation of an effective transition order from a viewpoint of article processing time.